A councillor for the municipality of North Bay plans to appeal to the Ontario government to investigate the trend of rising insurance costs for cities in the region.
The North Bay council recently approved a contract to renew its comprehensive general insurance with Frank Cowan Company, which was also written in partnership with Kennedy Insurance Brokers. The city will pay a premium of nearly $1.17 million, plus Harmonized Sales Tax (HST), for a one-year term which starts May 01.
The premium represents a $105,148 increase from North Bay’s premium last year, excluding taxes.
Following the approval of the insurance renewal, Councillor Bill Vrebosch gave notice of his intention to introduce a motion at a later meeting on municipal insurance rates. He told North Bay Nugget that the motion will ask the minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing to conduct an investigation into the rising cost of municipality insurance, and find ways to control the increases.
Vrebosch also said that he is not aware of any other similar province-wide motion from Ontario’s municipal advocacy bodies – such as the Association of Municipality of Ontario (AMO) or Federation of Northern Ontario Municipalities (FONOM). However, other city councils have also asked the province to look into the issue.
During the meeting to approve the insurance renewal, Councillor Mac Bain said that a survey of northeastern Ontario municipalities revealed that insurance premium increases ranged from 7% to as much as 83%.
“Each program named above has faced the challenges of insurers globally including retreating or reduced appetites for risk,” the report says, adding that after a period of strong competition about a decade ago, most commercial insurers are now underwriting risk more aggressively, and thus would require more premium to “shoulder the risk they choose to insure.”
“This is happening in almost all lines and around the world. It is generally recognized as a ‘hardening’ market globally,” the report continued.
